CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX doesn't find the header

Question

I am trying to compile a project in C++ coded by other persons (Orthanc for the people that knows a bit of medical imaging) on Ubuntu 22.04. One library needed is pugixml but CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX doesn't seem to find the header of that library

I have installed pugixml through apt-get and I also have downloaded the library and put it in /usr/lib/.

I also checked the source code and this is the function call that returns the error

CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX(pugixml.hpp HAVE_PUGIXML_H)
  if (NOT HAVE_PUGIXML_H)
    message(FATAL_ERROR "Please install the libpugixml-dev package")
  endif()

  link_libraries(pugixml)

and when we include that library with no set up (I'll put all the inclusions)

include(CMakePushCheckState)
include(CheckFunctionExists)
include(CheckIncludeFile)
include(CheckIncludeFileCXX)
include(CheckIncludeFiles)
include(CheckLibraryExists)
include(CheckStructHasMember)
include(CheckSymbolExists)
include(CheckTypeSize)
include(FindPythonInterp)

this is the command I use for the cmake (given by the documentation of orthanc) :

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DUSE_SYSTEM_CIVETWEB=OFF -DALLOW_DOWNLOADS=ON path/to/Orthanc/orthanc/OrthancServer

Does someone know what I can do to resolve that problem? Rewriting the code isn't a possibility for me thus I'd prefer to use Pugixml.

EDIT : This is the complete logs that appear when I launch cmake --fresh

CMake Deprecation Warning at CMakeLists.txt:21 (cmake_minimum_required):
  Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 will be removed from a future version of
  CMake.

  Update the VERSION argument <min> value or use a ...<max> suffix to tell
  CMake that the project does not need compatibility with older versions.


-- The C compiler identification is GNU 11.4.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 11.4.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
CMake Warning (dev) at /home/ypollet/Numerisation/Orthanc/orthanc/OrthancFramework/Resources/CMake/OrthancFrameworkConfiguration.cmake:46 (include):
  Policy CMP0148 is not set: The FindPythonInterp and FindPythonLibs modules
  are removed.  Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0148" for policy details.  Use
  the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:79 (include)
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

-- Found PythonInterp: /usr/bin/python3.10 (found version "3.10.12") 
-- Looking for sqlite3.h
-- Looking for sqlite3.h - found
SQLite include dir: /usr/include
Detected version of SQLite: 3037002
-- Found OpenSSL: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so (found version "3.0.2")  
-- Found CURL: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcurl.so (found version "7.81.0")  
-- Looking for C++ include civetweb.h
-- Looking for C++ include civetweb.h - not found
CMake Error at /home/ypollet/Numerisation/Orthanc/orthanc/OrthancFramework/Resources/CMake/CivetwebConfiguration.cmake:108 (message):
  Please install the libcivetweb-dev package
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  /home/ypollet/Numerisation/Orthanc/orthanc/OrthancFramework/Resources/CMake/OrthancFrameworkConfiguration.cmake:306 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:79 (include)


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

The warning is because the project ask for a cmake version of atleast 2.8 with CMP0058 :

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
cmake_policy(SET CMP0058 NEW)

my version is :

$ cmake --version
cmake version 3.27.0

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).

Answer 1

CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX will check the same include directories as the selected compiler would to confirm whether an include file is present.

On the Ubuntu Package Search we can see that the file /usr/include/pugixml.hpp is part of the libpugixml-dev package. If CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX does not find that file, despite /usr/include being part of the default compiler include paths on Ubuntu, I conclude that you do not have that package installed. Did you maybe just install the libpugixml1v5 package and forgot the dev one? After you installed it, please don't forget to run cmake --fresh <src_directory> in your build directory, to reset the build cache.

For a minimum reproducable example, you could place the following in a CMakeLists.txt in an empty folder and type cmake . into your console (in that folder), to see if you get an error:

project(test)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
include(CheckIncludeFileCXX)
CHECK_INCLUDE_FILE_CXX(pugixml.hpp HAVE_PUGIXML_H)
if(HAVE_PUGIXML_H)
    message(STATUS "pugixml.hpp found")
else()
    message(FATAL_ERROR "pugixml.hpp not found")
endif()

Answer 2

The final answer was to use cmake --fresh to clear the cache.